Truant youths frequently experience family problems, emotional/psychological issues, substance misuse, and delinquency. They are likely engaging in alcohol use and sexual risk behavior at a higher rate than the general youth population. Early intervention services would benefit them, their families, and society. We present interim findings from an…

Substance use and sexual risk behaviors are common among adolescents, but research has focused attention on alcohol use. Much less is known about the relationship of marijuana use and sexual risk behavior among high-risk, especially truant, youths. We report interim findings from a NIDA-funded experimental, brief intervention (BI) study involving…

Truant youths represent a critical group needing problem-oriented research and involvement in effective services. The limited number of studies on the psychosocial functioning of truant youths have focused on one or a few problem areas, rather than examining comorbid problem behaviors. The present study addresses the need to examine the…

Variations in drug use have been found across individual-level factors and community characteristics, and by type of drug used. Relatively little research, however, has examined this variation among juvenile offenders. Based on a sample of 924 newly arrested juvenile offenders, two multilevel logistic regression models predicting marijuana test…

Data was collected on arrested youths processed at a centralized intake facility, including youths released back to the community and those placed in secure detention. This article reports the results of a test of a structural model involving newly arrested male and female youths' sexually transmitted diseases (STD) test results, urine analysis…

This article examines the impact of sociodemographic characteristics and psychosocial factors on the probability and frequency of marijuana use and, for youths initiating use, on their frequency of use over four time points. The sample consists of 278 justice-involved youths completing at least one of three follow-up interviews as part of a…

We report the results of latent growth model analyses examining the continuity of cocaine use among adolescents. This study examined a sample of 278 justice-involved juveniles completing at least one of three follow-up interviews as part of a National Institute on Drug Abuse funded study. Latent growth models were analyzed examining (1) changes in…

We report the results of a test of a structural model reflecting the longitudinal relationships of psychosocial problems among youths involved in a Center for Substance Abuse Treatment funded clinical trial for juveniles that participated in a diversion program. The project is evaluating the efficacy of an intensive 16-week case management service…

We report the results of the relationship of lifetime and past year drug involvement to psychosocial functioning among youths entering a Juvenile Arbitration Program (a diversion program) in the 13th Judicial Circuit, who enrolled in a Center for Substance Abuse Treatment funded study. The project is a clinical trial evaluating an innovative…